Sometimes, the dream finds the person.

Becky Abbott wasn't looking for a cause when she started looking for some land about a dozen years ago; it was just so she and her daughters could have some horses to enjoy as a family.

But word got around, and Abbott heard from parents asking if the horses could have an additional use, as therapy for their children with special needs.

Land was pricey then. Abbott didn't get it or the horses. But the idea stuck, not only for her original vision but the expanded one about horses as therapy.

Riding and other interactions with horses can have physical, emotional and mental benefits, Abbott said. She learned more about it over time; and as her children went through school, her understanding of the need some children have for such programs also grew.

“I knew I needed to do something,” said Abbott, 39, of Boothbay.

The married mother of three still doesn't have the horses, but she and husband Derek Abbott have bought the land. With help from volunteers, a plan is coming into focus for a facility called Kickstart Stables. It will sit on about 10 acres on Country Club Road.

The site has some notable neighbors. It's bordered on two sides by the Boothbay Harbor Country Club. The Boothbay Region Land Trust's Pine Tree Preserve also abuts it, Abbott said.

Existing tree lines will provide a buffer between Kickstart Stables and the golf course, she said.

Abbott is executive director of the nonprofit organization Kickstart Stables just became. It will rely on fundraising that will eventually include charging board for people to keep their horses there, said Abbott and Heather O'Brien, one of the organization's volunteers.

Kickstart Stables will own the horses and ponies in the therapy program, Abbott said.

The organization's board of directors will be making plans soon for fundraising events, and for the next steps in getting the facility designed and built, Abbott said.

Knickerbocker Group in Boothbay has donated its services to develop a marketing concept as Kickstart Stables moves into the fundraising stage, said Knickerbocker architect Sue Mendleson.

The facility's opening is currently targeted for 2015.

“It's very exciting,” Abbott said. “Everybody who's helped is just full of energy for what we want to make for the community.”

For more on Kickstart Stables, call 207-633-2013.